Student leaders headed to the Capitol on Thursday as part of the annual Invest in Texas campaign, speaking with legislators and their staff about campus carry regulations, in-state tuition for undocumented students and a host of other higher education-related issues.

As part of this year’s Invest in Texas campaign, a nonpartisan lobbying effort between the Graduate Student Assembly, Senate of College Councils and Student Government, leaders from the organizations presented six platform points on behalf of the student body.

“We ran a well-oiled machine,” said John Brown, government junior and Invest in Texas co-director. “Our messages — they were very well-received. We got a lot of good feedback on our platform.”

One of the group’s platform points supported a capital investment for the renovation of Welch Hall. Welch houses the UT chemistry and biochemistry departments, and the building is 85 years old. The University needs around $125 million to renovate the building and improve laboratory safety, according to administrators from the College of Natural Sciences.

Geetika Jerath, international relations and global studies senior and Senate of College Councils president, said she believes Welch, which approximately 10,000 students use each day, is unsafe for laboratory use.

“Students and faculty members fear for their safety,” Jerath said. “This is not a mindset that Longhorns … should have. We should be focused on conducting groundbreaking research in state-of-the-art facilities.”

The platform also called for legislators to continue support of the Texas DREAM Act, which grants in-state tuition for undocumented students with Texas residency. Rep. John Zerwas (R-Richmond), chair of the House committee on higher education, spoke to students before they met with legislators, and he said he thinks the DREAM Act will pass in the House again.

“The opportunity for [undocumented students] to go on in higher education is critically important to their success and the success of the state,” Zerwas said.

The students who lobbied also spoke in opposition to tuition regulation at the state level, asking that state universities be allowed to determine their own tuition.

“If tuition is re-regulated, the very people who pay the tuition will lose their voice in this critical issue,” Jerath said.

Students also lobbied in favor of a bill that would establish tax-free periods for textbook sales in August and January, and for continued state funding and grant-matching to support research at Tier One institutions, including UT.

The group lobbied in support of allowing college campuses to set their own policies on campus carry, a bill that, if passed, would allow students to carry concealed handguns into campus buildings.

“There are 12,000 graduate students living, working, researching at the University of Texas today,” Chamberlain said. “Graduate students provide an invaluable service to UT. … We’re all taking time from our busy lives to invest in our education.”

Current financial director David Engleman speaks at a Senate of College Councils meeting in February 2014.

The Senate of College Councils passed two bills in February that altered its nomination processes before the 2015 elections, which will take place March 12.

The Senate created and passed SB 1408 on Feb. 26 during the nominations general assembly meeting. The bill allows any council or general assembly member to be nominated for a Senate position, if at least two-thirds of councils vote to allow the motion.

During the nominations general assembly meeting, there were originally no nominees for the position of financial director, which was a problem most members had never encountered, according to current financial director David Engleman. This absence of candidates prompted the bill.

Two candidates who met the eligibility requirements did step up during the meeting, but the Senate decided to pass the bill regardless, Engleman said.

“The discussion became about, ‘Should we open up eligibility requirements to run for one of these positions?’” Engleman said. “Ultimately, the vote was made to do that.”

The Undergraduate Business Council was one of the two councils that voted to oppose the bill.

“We voted against it out of principle,” said Adam Petras, Undergraduate Business Council president. “When Senate wants to be reformed, it’s something that should be thought about in advance. We didn’t think about it enough.”

The total discussion of the bill took 20 minutes, whereas a normal proposal for change usually takes up to two weeks. There was no real discussion about potential conflicts or problems that may arise from the passing of the bill, according to Petras.

“[The bill] might not have any impact in normal situations,” Petras said. “But it opens up the possibility for less qualified and less experienced applicants running for Senate.”

The Senate also unanimously passed SB 1405 on Feb. 12 to modify the nomination process. The original nomination process required all nominations to occur during the second-to-last general assembly meeting in February. However, since the spring semester resumed one week later than usual this year, candidates running for Senate president, vice president and financial director had a shorter campaign period.

To accommodate for the time lost, the Senate passed SB 1405, which stated that all nominations can happen at any general assembly meeting in February, with one month of prior notice.

“Bill 1405 allows for more flexibility, giving members more time to choose nominees and giving nominees more time to campaign,” Senate president Geetika Jerath said.

In an effort to find ways to ease transfer students’ social and academic transition to the University, the Senate of College Councils formed an ad hoc committee to address the issue.

The Transfer Student Ad-Hoc Committee, which is open to both Senate and non-Senate members, met for the first time Thursday to set an outline of which issues are most important for transfer students. At the meeting, the students discussed the possibility of a transfer student services office, an extended transfer student orientation and the tracking of transfer students. Students also spoke about their personal experiences and concerns.

Committee co-chair Corey Hayford said transfer students lack these resources on campus.

“When you’re talking about a population that is that large, and for them not to have the resources offered to other students, I think that’s a key issue that needs to be addressed,” said Hayford, who transferred to UT from St. Edward’s University.

The committee is divided up into subcommittees for CAP and PACE, external transfers and internal transfers. The committees will submit proposals that will then be examined and potentially implemented.

“We’d like for each group to do their own research and have a proposal set up by April, so we can thoroughly do the research we need to do,” Hayford said.

When the new Senate session starts, Hayford said he hopes the committee will become its own Senate agency, a group that reports to Senate but operates somewhat
independently.

George Bennett, a computer science junior who is not a member of Senate, said he joined the committee because he thinks transfer students lack the same resources as freshman and don’t get basic information, such as how to register for classes, explained in enough detail.

“Personally, I had a lot of negative experiences with orientation and things like that — that they kind of walk freshmen through but that they don’t really do that for transfer students,” Bennett said.

One of the topics the committee discussed is transfer credit. Hayford said many students lose credit because the University does not make it clear to transfer students what courses do not transfer from outside institutions.

“My experience hasn’t really been that bad because I’m going to graduate in the summer, so just a little over four years [without] losing a lot of credit,” Hayford said. “But I have been around a lot of students who have had a bad experience and who have not had the proper resources.”

Hayford said the biggest problem for internal transfer students is the lack of access to restricted classes required for a given major.

“The major issue with internal transfers is that the applications for the internal transfer process are not read until June and you pick classes in April,” Hayford said. “If you’re not in that college in April, then you’re not able to register for those restricted classes.”

The committee is also looking into aiding transfers with social adjustment to UT by creating a transfer student Camp Texas, an extended orientation that adds social activities to the orientation and resource and career fairs.

“There are not a lot of transfer student organizations and stuff for transfer students on campus,” said Nick Sajatovic, co-chair of the committee. “They definitely don’t feel at home right away when they come here, like freshmen do.”

As the official voice of students in academic affairs, the Senate of College Councils has been working hard this year to enhance the academic sphere of UT in various ways.

We kicked off the year with our annual Academic Expo, during which students learned more about Senate’s internal structure and our initiatives. Since then, our six committees have been working on university-wide events and legislation. Recently, our Academic Integrity Committee hosted IntegrityUT Week, a weeklong celebration of academic integrity and the new honor code that Senate helped to create. We hosted a series of Lunch and Learns with distinguished faculty and administrators, including President Powers. A thousand students received t-shirts with the new honor code to wear on test days to promote academic integrity. More than a thousand students also memorized the honor code and signed a huge honor code board to show their commitment. President Powers also signed it to support our students. During Senate’s last General Assembly, we passed legislation to include the new honor code and a statement regarding Student Judicial Services’ procedures on syllabi.

We have many more academic themed weeks and initiatives coming up. The Faculty Affairs Committee is planning Faculty Appreciation Week 2015 and are soliciting applications for Professors and TAs of the Month. The Undergraduate Research Committee is currently seeking applicants for a $1000 undergraduate research grant and planning for Research Week 2015. The Recruitment and Retention Committee is preparing to host Ready Set Go, a college readiness program for high school students. They are also leading our recently announced Transfer Student Ad-Hoc Committee, which will include a working group and focus groups for transfer student issues. We passed legislation and are hoping to create a Transfer Student Experience Program within the First Year Experience Office in order to promote resources and four-year graduation rates for transfer students.

In November, the Academic Enrichment Committee will be hosting Academic Enrichment Week, which will include events about internships, study abroad, research, and academic service learning. On November 19, the Academic Policy Committee with the Undergraduate Studies Council will host our first Student Series Campus Conversation on Technology in Higher Education from 5-7pm in the Gregory Gym Games Room. We invite every student to attend and participate. We hope students will share their opinions concerning these university-wide issues. We hope to create new legislation based on these conversations and report recommendations to UT’s future president.

Our coordinators are working hard this year to support the mission of Senate from managing our media and outreach efforts to implementing legislation previously passed in our assembly concerning faculty exit surveys, an online handbook, and supporting student ownership of intellectual property among other pieces.

In addition to our internal work and efforts to support our 20 college councils, Senate is a part of Invest in Texas, a student lobbying campaign at the Texas Legislature with the GSA and SG. Our Invest in Texas Co-Director is planning for our Invest in Texas Day at the Capitol and will be reaching out to our student body to identify student priorities. We plan to also engage other UT System Schools during this process.

At the beginning of the year, we welcomed 50 new At-Large members into Senate. They are pursuing their own individual initiatives which include expanding the FRI model to other colleges, creating an IntegrityUT Campaign, tackling registration issues, creating a medical excuse policy, streamlining the pre-law program and more!

We encourage all students to connect with us through our website, utsenate.org, or through social media by following us on Facebook and @utscc on Twitter. Our General Assemblies are every other Thursday at 7pm in the SAC Legislative Assembly Room with our next one on November 13th. Our meetings are open to any student and we would love to hear about your ideas for legislation or events.

We look forward to serving the student body through various events, initiatives, and legislation pieces. We are launching some big surprises in the coming months, so stay tuned! In Senate, what starts here changes the university.

Jerath is the president of the Senate of College Councils. She is an international relations and global studies senior from Friendswood.

The Senate of College Councils passed a resolution at a meeting Thursday requesting the University require the honor code be placed on all course syllabuses. With its passing, the resolution will be submitted to the Faculty Council for review.

In 2012, the Senate of College Councils changed the University’s academic honor code to read: “As a student of the University of Texas at Austin, I shall abide by the core values of the University and uphold academic integrity.”

“That’s something that every student looks at, and that’s a contract between a student and a professor,” said Sasha Parsons, at-large Senate representative and author of the resolution. “So, there’s no better place to have it right now.”

According to the Senate President Geetika Jerath, current syllabuses have a section included about academic dishonesty, but it is usually outdated, written by a specific department or not consistent across the University. Jerath said the goal of the resolution is to establish a consistent honor statement in all University syllabuses and open a dialogue about how it varies for individual professors.

“We need to have discussions,” Jerath said. “[Academic integrity] differs from each college, each class. There are different components to each classroom — whether it has technology or not. So, we really wanted to start that discussion and have something feasible to work on.”

Many students do not know what happens when one is accused of academic dishonesty, but having information about Student Judicial Services in syllabuses would clarify that process, according to Parsons.

“We really want students to understand the repercussions if they do something wrong, but also who’s there to help them,” Parsons said.

Parsons said the honor code will help to maintain the value of a student’s education at UT.

“We’re here to get degrees and certification that we have learned something,” Parsons said.

At the meeting Thursday, representatives suggested to the authors that a statement be added to the resolution requesting that professors define what academic dishonesty is in their specific course, but the amendment did not pass.

Shannon Geison, at-large Senate representative and author of the resolution, said personal professor statements should be discussed in a later bill, after more research has been done.

“I think that all of the opposition that we have seen has just been trying to have professors provide more definitions and having them address these things, like technology in the classroom,” Geison said. “Which are things we are definitely talking about but coming at a later date.”

Geison said these statements should include integrity policies on the use of technology — such as Google Docs, QUEST and Spark Notes — in the classroom. The topic will be discussed on Nov. 19 at a Campus Conversation meeting hosted by the Senate’s Academic Policy Committee.

According to Parsons, some students have expressed concerns that having the honor code in a syllabus will not change academic dishonesty, but she said it would with time.

“We just have to realize that everything is a gradual process, and it’s about the attitude people have and talking about integrity and the hard decisions we make in college,” Parsons said.

Biology pre-med senior Hamidat Momoh writes honesty and discipline as her definition for integrity during the annual Integrity UT Week on Thursday. Integrity Week is held by the Senate of College Councils to raise awareness of the honor code and emphasize integrity.

The Senate of College Councils is holding its annual Integrity UT Week, which runs through Friday, to promote academic integrity inside the classroom and raise awareness of the University’s honor code.

According to Robert Guajardo, biology senior and the Senate’s Academic Integrity Committee co-chair, the main goal of Integrity Week is to make it easier for students to know the honor code and the consequences that come when they break it. He said the week consists of four days of tabling, in which students get the opportunity to receive prizes by reciting the honor code and take a picture with the integrity board, which will later be posted on Facebook.

“This is an eye-opening week because I can see how much change Integrity Week could cause,” Guajardo said. “There is a tremendous amount of change in how many students know the honor code.”

Since the University changed its honor code two years ago, Guajardo said Integrity Week also helps upperclassmen be aware of the new honor code. According to Guajardo, the honor code was changed to be more concise and easier for students to recognize.

“Now that the honor code has been changed, we want students to know it better than they would before,” Guajardo said.

Guajardo said the week also consists of different luncheons in which faculty guest speakers talk about what integrity means to them. According to Guajardo, it also involves an event at the Perry-Castañeda Library, “Integrity: Pass It On,” in which the Senate members pass on blue books that have the honor code on the back. He said they also project the honor code on the exterior of the PCL.

“All of these activities are meant for students to either memorize or learn the honor code,” said Elizabeth Roach, history freshman and Senate at-large member. “We also encourage students to wear our T-shirts on test days, which becomes a subtle reminder of integrity.”

At Thursday’s luncheon, President William Powers Jr. talked about the importance of the honor code to the University.

“This is a great university and there’s a lot of things to be proud of,” Powers said. “We play fair, and we know that rules are for people with integrity, which is something that’s promoted with the honor code.”

According to Guajardo, the Senate gives away 1,000 shirts each year to students who are interested in learning the honor code.

“Integrity Week brings awareness to the honor code,” said Ryan Shu, business sophomore and Senate of College Councils at-large member. “I have seen that it does make a difference.”

Guajardo also said students get the opportunity to express what integrity means to them.

“To me, integrity means not being afraid to do the right thing,” neuroscience freshman Toyana Niraula said.

As past and current student leaders at the University of Texas at Austin, we have followed the controversy surrounding certain members of the UT System Board of Regents and our president, William Powers Jr., for over three years.

We attended the Board of Regents meeting in December 2013 while studying for finals during a closed-door session. Sitting and waiting for hours longer than expected to hear Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa’s recommendation regarding Powers’ employment was extremely stressful and tense. We were relieved to hear his support for Powers as we sat in a room full of students, alumni, prominent officials and Powers himself. Yet despite recommending that Powers remain the president of UT-Austin just six months ago, it has been reported that Cigarroa delivered an ultimatum to Powers on July 2 to resign immediately or be fired Thursday. Worst of all, delivering the ultimatum during a holiday-shortened week in the middle of the summer certainly appears to be an attempt to remove Powers while few are on campus to respond.

As former UT System general counsel Barry Burgdorf said in his testimony before the House Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations last year, it was the “clear intent” of some regents to “get rid of Bill Powers” as UT’s president. It is clear that this latest salvo is yet another attempt by those who do not have the best interests of the University at heart. Their methods have succeeded only in detracting from our mission of educating students to be the leaders of tomorrow and carrying out cutting-edge research expected of a tier one University.

The students are the lifeblood of this university. This ultimatum does not serve our best interests. Instead, it disrespects a successful university president who has continuously directed UT to epitomize a “university of the first class.”

The students of UT-Austin have continually made our position clear. In response to a similar situation last year, the Senate of College Councils and Student Government passed Joint Resolution 1, “In Support of President Powers’ Vision for the University of Texas at Austin.” This support is unchanged, and we are disheartened and disappointed by Cigarroa’s ultimatum. For this action to be perpetrated by a chancellor who has already announced his resignation, and while the University is quiet for the summer, reveals its self-destructive motives. To date, no reason has been provided by Cigarroa as to why the ultimatum was delivered, but it is clear why it is injudicious.

Powers has proved his commitment and his ability to serve as an outstanding leader time and time again. He spearheaded the first core curriculum reform in 25 years and created the School of Undergraduate Studies. He is leading an unprecedented $3 billion dollar capital campaign. He was selected by his peers to serve as the Chairman of the Association of American Universities, an immense honor that brings pride to our University. Through President Powers’ leadership, UT-Austin has been ranked No. 27 in the world by Times Higher Education. As we look to the future, he is in the process of creating the first medical school at a tier one university in several decades. His tenure as president has been consistently filled with success that has vaulted UT into the arena of the world’s elite universities, all during the most trying times higher education has ever seen.

These accomplishments do not go unnoticed at our University.

After news of this ultimatum broke, we started a petition in support of Powers that has received over 6,000 signatures during a holiday weekend. The Faculty Council has called an emergency meeting for Wednesday to reiterate its unequivocal support for Powers with the chairwoman noting that faculty are as unanimous as she has seen in 27 years in their support. Newly minted president of the Texas Exes, former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, notified all Texas Exes that “a forced resignation or firing would be a travesty for UT” and alumni should “stand up and fight” for the University’s stature. Students too have expressed their support for Powers in large numbers on social media. Even after an attempt to minimize exposure of this ultimatum, Longhorns everywhere have rallied in a powerful way.

The Board of Regents should remember that its fiduciary duty is to do what is best for UT-Austin. Let our message be clear: Powers is what is best for our University, and he deserves much better. It is now more important than ever that Longhorns everywhere come together and stand with Powers.

Jerath is president of the Senate of College Councils. Clark is president emeritus of the Senate of College Councils. Rady is president of Student Government. Villarreal is president emeritus of Student Government.

Editor’s Note: In anticipation of the May 1 deadline for admitted high-school students to chose to attend the University, we asked student leaders on campus to tell us why they came to UT. This submission, from former Senate of College Councils President Andrew Clark, is the first of several that will run this week. It has been minimally edited for style.

For me, attending The University of Texas was meant to be. I grew up in a house divided; my dad went to Texas A&M and my mom is a proud Texas Ex. There are even two sets of baby photos in my house, one of my younger brother and I wearing maroon, another in burnt orange. I grew up thinking there were only two possible schools I could attend: UT and A&M. As I neared senior year of high school I realized there was far more available than just these two Texas flagships, but I couldn’t help but feel a connection to those schools. Despite the efforts of my parents, I went in with an open mind, looking at schools from across the state and the country. Inevitably, all it took was a visit to the 40 Acres one day in September to realize that this was the place for me. And no disrespect to the Aggies — including my brother, who kept our house evenly divided — but considering four years in Austin or four years in College Station practically made the decision for me.

Reflecting on that choice now, I realize that it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. But it wasn’t easy, as I was one of only two students from my graduating class to come to Texas. Though I already felt quite an affinity for UT, it was an intimidating proposition to move to Austin without really knowing anyone. It even led me to keep A&M in the running until the last minute because I had several friends going there. But once I arrived, I was fortunate to quickly find my niche on campus in the Senate of College Councils, one of UT’s three legislative student organizations. I had the privilege and honor of representing the students of this campus through Senate, culminating with my term as Senate president this year. The people I encountered through Senate over my four years are without question the most remarkable people I’ve ever met, and they are what truly made my college experience meaningful. UT offers its students an incredible breadth of experiences, with world-class academics, a second-to-none athletics program, an active lifestyle in one of the most popular cities in the country and the opportunity to make a positive impact on campus. I received an outstanding education, but in my case, the experiences I had outside the classroom are what most define my four years at UT. I learned by serving the students of the campus and working with extraordinary people, and in the process, I made memories that I’ll never forget.

For anyone still considering UT that may be reading this, our president, Bill Powers, says a great university “opens up a world of ideas to you. You may show up and think you don’t belong. But you do belong because it changes your life.” I am living proof that these words are true. My experience at UT has made me the person I am today. The 40 Acres expanded my worldview, showed me success and failure, gave me lifelong friends, and taught me more than I could imagine. Ultimately, that’s what college is all about. UT gave me far more than I could ever give in return, and as I prepare to graduate I have more people to thank than I can count. But the best thing about UT is that my story is just one of many you’ll find on the 40 Acres. I encourage you to attend the University of Texas and write your own story. You certainly won’t regret it.

Clark is an international relations and global studies senior from Canyon Lake. He will be graduating in May.

Only five of the 14 commencement speakers since 2000 have been women— most recently Olympian Sanya Richards-Ross.

Although the University has hosted numerous commencement speakers since its first commencement ceremony in 1884, during the past 24 years only about one-third of those speakers have been female.

Horacio Villarreal, former Student Government president, said diversity is one of many factors that influence the decision for commencement speaker.

“I don’t know exactly why that happens,” Villarreal said when referring to the lower percentage of female speakers. “A lot of it just has to do with the current time and with what’s going on in the world. We try to pick someone relevant to UT, who has gone through challenges, and who will be motivating to students.”

Andrew Clark, former Senate of College Councils president, said many different student groups provide input toward selecting a commencement speaker.

“Student leaders from the Senate of College Councils, the assembly and Student Government get together with the [University] president to decide who the speaker is going to be,” Clark said. “We make a rough list of initial names from input we get from our constituents, and then we vet them and the list gets narrowed down.”

Several factors, such as alumni status and recognition, influence the choice for commencement speaker, according to Clark.

“Being a UT grad is always a top priority,” Clark said. “Then, we want someone well-recognized — particularly if they have national recognition around the time of commencement.”

Clark said speaking ability is also a priority.

“We look for someone we think would be captivating for students to hear,” Clark said. “It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for us to pick someone who’s going to put people to sleep.”

Villarreal said he thinks more students should be involved in the selection of a commencement speaker.

“Every student should have a say in sharing their opinions,” Villarreal said.

The last female speaker the University chose was Sanya Richards-Ross, a gold medal Olympic sprinter and Texas alum who spoke at the 2013 commencement ceremony. Since 2000, five of the 14 commencement speakers have been female.

Michael Morton, former Senate of College Councils president, said the University chose Richards-Ross because of her accomplishments and alumni status.

“The students selected her because she [was] a leader at the top of her profession who achieved success through integrity and hard work,” Morton said in a statement released by the University.

Clark said diversity was still a main goal in choosing commencement speakers.

“UT has a lot of diverse graduates,” Clark said. “There are a lot of people who have gone out there and, as the University motto says, ‘changed the world.’”

Updated (5:34 p.m.): According to Kevin Hegarty, the University's executive vice president and chief financial officer, the UT System extended the deadline for the tuition proposal after students and UT administrators formally requested the extension. The proposal, originally due Wednesday, is now due Friday, Hegarty said.

Original story: One day before student leaders were required to submit a tuition proposal to President William Powers Jr., administrators at the UT System extended the deadline, according to Andrew Clark, Senate of College Councils president.

The committee of student leaders, including Clark, student government president Horacio Villarreal, and Columbia Mishra, president of the graduate student assembly, was charged with recommending up to a 2.6 percent increase for in-state undergraduate tuition and a 3.6 increase for out-of-state tuition.

"We heard from UT System that the campuses have a little more flexibility on when it's due," Clark said. "I don't have a date right now, all I heard at this point is that we have some extra time to discuss the proposal."

Clark said he was not told when the new proposal will be due, but the group will plan to complete it sometime in the next few weeks, regardless.

Typically, tuition advisory committees are formed every two years around August to create a proposal for setting tuition, following directives from the UT System Board of Regents. This year, the regents issued a directive halfway through the fall semester that forbade tuition increases for in-state students. As a result, a smaller-than-typical advisory committee — composed of three people — recommended a 3.6 percent tuition increase for out of state students.

On Feb. 25, the regents issued new instructions that a full committe should be formed to consider an in-state tuition increase of up to 2.6 percent.

The UT System and the tuition advisory committee have both received significant student criticism — the System for not allowing enough time for a proposal to be developed, and the committee for failing to provide avenues for broader student input.

The group is working to create a new proposal for a one-year cycle, rather than the traditional two-year cycle tuition is set on.